Disclaimer: Everything you recognize belongs to the glorious J. K. Rowling. I'm just borrowing the characters.
AN: I hope you enjoy my take on Snape's death. Please review!
Unexpected
He knew that this could happen. It was a distinct possibility. Rather, he should have expected this to happen. One can only avoid death for so long.
Of course, the manner of which he would meet his end was impossible to foresee. It struck him as oddly ironic that a snake, even a one such as Nagini, was the thing to do him in. He took a measure of comfort and pride in knowing that even at the end, his cover had remained intact.
After giving the Potter boy the information he needed to defeat the Dark Lord, he felt free to give in, to give up, and to hopefully find some peace. As undeserving as he was, he could not help but to hope.
He felt his body take one last ragged breath as he focused on the one thing he had fought for all these dark and lonely years. Everything drifted away. Welcoming oblivion at long last.
Only oblivion, it seemed, would have to wait. He found himself lying down, not in that dilapidated shack, but on a grassy knoll overlooking a small lake.
He sat up slowly, taking in his unexpected surroundings, trying to remember why this felt so familiar.
"Hello Severus," a voice said to him, a voice he had been yearning to hear for the past seventeen years. An angel he did not deserve.
"Lily?" he barely whispered, not believing that she was really here with him, wherever here happened to be.
"Of course it's me, Sev. Who else would it be?' she calmly stated as she approached his sitting form. "I can not begin to thank you enough for what you have done."
In a state of shock, he watched as she sat on the grass next to him. Smiling, her green eyes lighting up with emotion, she lightly pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"How is this possible? I felt myself die'" he spoke, looking at the woman who had been the sole reason for his existence.
"You are dead," she calmly explained placing her delicate hand in his grasp. "But you do not have to remain dead, if you do not want to."
"What do you mean? Dead is dead. I, more than most, would know if this wasn't the case," he said, with a hint of his trademarked snark. At that, she merely gave him a small smile.
"You, my dear friend, are one of the lucky few to have accidently created a Horcrux. In fact, you are only the second to do so," she replied, ignoring his attempt to shield himself behind sarcasm. She knew him better than anyone else.
Thinking back over the last seventeen years, he had done horrible things to innocent people damaging his soul in ways he could scarcely imagine. As a death eater, it was an expected part of the lifestyle.
"Why am I given this choice, among so many others have committed unspeakable acts similar in nature to my own, why give this to me?" he stated staring into the eyes he had, only moments before, seen in another's face.
"You saved Draco's soul when you killed Albus. You protected him from the horrors of murder, sacrificing instead, a piece of your already broken soul. Unbreakable Vow aside, what you did showed remarkable courage and you honored your friendship with Albus by making his death as peaceful as possible," she said as she stared off at the horizon.
"When you killed Albus atop that Astronomy tower, part of your soul latched onto Draco, connecting you in a similar fashion to that of Harry and Voldemort. All you need do is locate that part of your soul inside Draco and return to your own body," she explained carefully.
Still looking deep into her eyes he knew that, if given the choice, he would forsake returning to his old and tired body if he could forever remain here in this beautiful place with her.
As if reading his mind she turned back to him with a sad smile on her lovely face. "I can not remain here with you Severus. After everything you have done for Harry, after everything you gave up for me, I still do not love you the way you love me. Going back to your body might give you the chance to finally let me go and find someone else who is capable of loving you the way you deserve to be loved," she said as a perfect tear made its progress down her cheek.
"I do not deserve to be loved after everything that I have done," he said as he pulled his hand away from hers and stood up.
She too stood up and placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. "Then perhaps you deserve forgiveness, not only from the wizarding community, but from yourself," she said.
He turned back to face her, tears making his vision blurry. "Perhaps," he whispered, more to himself than to anyone else.
She gave him a gentle squeeze on the shoulder and began to walk towards the horizon.
"Wait!" he exclaimed, "Will I ever see you again?" he asked as he tried to quickly memorize her face again.
"Perhaps," she said as she turned to face him once more. Her eyes shining with tears unbidden.
As his surroundings began to fade into nothingness, she was the last to disappear.
Severus Snape awoke in the infirmary of Hogwarts three days later with some nasty snakebites and an unexpected second chance at life.